Point-of-care technology

Benefits of POC technology include the lower costs of out-patient versus in-patient care, savings in both waiting time and consultation time in clinics, savings in laboratory analysis time and effort, the fact that it is often less invasive than hospital testing and that POC devices are more readily available to the public. Importantly, too, POC devices allow doctors to make decisions quickly based on the rapidly available results. Reimbursement from insurance providers is now possible for some POC devices, such as home glucose 

Analytical Instrumentation A Guide to Laboratory, Portable and Miniaturized Instruments G. McMahon 2007 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-470-02795-0 

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Silicon photodiodes could render relatively high sensitivity for detection of low analyte concentrations but are too expensive and complicated to fabricate as an integral part of a disposable microfluidic chip. In contrast to the silicon counterpart, OPDs are a promising potential for future point-of-care technology because they are inexpensive and easily fabricated, and are attracting more and more attention from researchers in the field of lab-on-chip. 

Justino CIL, Rocha-Santos TAP, Duarte AC. Advances in point-of-care technologies with biosensors based on carbon nanotubes. TrAC-Trends in Analytical Chemistry 2013 45 24— 36. http //dx.doi.Org/10.1016/j.trac.2012.12.012. 

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